Joey Belladonna — Joseph Bellardini, born in Oswego, New York State, on 30 October 1960 — is Anthrax's singer in the periods that produced the band's best-known albums. His voice is the reason Anthrax never sounded like any other thrash metal band. While Metallica, Slayer and Megadeth worked with rasped, shouted or declaimed vocals, Belladonna sings — actually sings, with a clean timbre, high range and melodic phrasing inherited from traditional heavy metal. Over fast, aggressive riffs, that contrast created a tension no competitor had. He joined in 1984 and recorded Spreading the Disease (1985), Among the Living (1987), State of Euphoria (1988) and Persistence of Time (1990) — the run that defined the band. He was let go in 1992, when the group sought a heavier, darker sound, and spent years away. He returned for good in 2010 and recorded Worship Music (2011) and For All Kings (2016), albums critics treated as a return to form precisely because his voice was back. He is of Native American descent on his mother's side, an origin he mentions often.
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